Adobe to increase headcount in India

After its recent acquisiton of Macromedia, Adobe Systems will increase its headcount in India by 300 people over the next 12 months. The company is also opening a business unit in Bangalore.

"Macromedia and its development centre in Bangalore will now be used by Adobe for product development," said Adobe India managing director and member of global management team of the company Naresh Gupta.

Apart from being a development base for its products, the India operations of Adobe would also now do the business development for print and classic publishing unit. The company will be hiring 300 engineers over the next 12 months, Gupta added.

Adobe completed the acquisition of Macromedia on December 3 this year in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.4 billion. As a result of the acquisition, its staff strength in India has grown to 650 from 504.

Though the two companies are functioning as seperate legal entities in India, work on integrating them was in progress. Adobe is also working at introducing a Portable Documant Format (PDF) reader in Hindi.

"The work is on for a Hindi version of PDF and soon the company will introduce it. Based on its response, we will consider its introduction in other local languages," Gupta added.

The company's India operations account for less than 0.5 per cent of Adobe's worldwide revenues as 90 per cent of its products are pirated. Lower piracy rates can double the company's revenues from India, Gupta said.

Adobe, which has products in the price range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000, is planning to check piracy levels by introducing products in the lower price range.

"The company is conducting a pilot project in China for introducing lower-end products and based on the results we will introduce it in other markets like India and Brazil," Gupta added.